Conway, Ark.—The Hendrix-Murphy Foundation awarded $163,245 in grants in October for three student cocurricular projects and four faculty-led study-travel projects in literature and language. Since 2010 Hendrix-Murphy has awarded over $2 million for study-travel in the United States and abroad and over $1.5 million for on-campus literature and language projects.
“Hendrix-Murphy is delighted to be able to support these projects for both students and faculty. The quality and range of the proposals this cycle was especially strong! It’s also notable that most of these projects carry Odyssey Program credit, which demonstrates the Foundation’s role in enriching the Hendrix literature and language curriculum,” said Hendrix-Murphy Foundation Director Hope Coulter. The Odyssey Program is Hendrix College’s signature engaged-learning program where students complete at least three experiential projects in areas such as global awareness, service to the world, and professional and leadership development.
The following student and faculty-led projects were approved for funding:
A Berlin without Jews? Reading Literature and Place
Four students will spend a week with Dr. Dorian Stuber, professor of English, in Berlin, Germany, visiting Holocaust remembrance sites and attempting to excavate the landscape of Jewish Berlin as depicted in texts they have studied in preparation for the trip: memoirs by four Jewish women that serve as documents of resistance to persecution. The project carries credit for Hendrix’s Odyssey Program.
Connecting to my Arkansas Roots through Donald Harington's Works
Kaleigh Coker, senior biochemistry and molecular biology major and Murphy Scholar in Literature and Language from East End, Ark. will compare her experience as a nature-lover from small-town Arkansas to Little Rock-born author Donald Harington, author of numerous works expressing his passion for Arkansas life, community and nature. Coker will camp in Arkansas campgrounds throughout the spring semester using Harington’s novel “The Architecture of the Arkansas Ozarks” as a road map and will read a different Harington novel at each campsite with the goal of better understanding Harington’s and her own connection to Arkansas. The project carries credit for Hendrix’s Odyssey Program and is supervised by Hendrix-Murphy Foundation Director and Associate Professor of English-Creative Writing Hope Coulter.
EF Languages French Intensive Course in Nice, France
Chiara Bunting, senior English and literary studies major and Murphy Scholar in Literature and Language from Conway and Shermar Simmons, senior psychology major and Murphy Scholar in Literature and Language from Little Rock, will build on their Hendrix-based studies of French language and culture by enrolling in the EF Languages School in Nice, France, for two weeks of intensive instruction with the goal of becoming more fluent French readers, speakers and thinkers. The project is supervised by Dr. Cathy Jellenik, professor of French.
HDX en CDMX '25: Linguistic Landscapes in Mexico City, Mexico
Dr. Zachary Brandner, assistant professor and Murphy Fellow in Spanish, and Dr. Felipe Pruneda Sentíes, Hendrix Writing Center director and adjunct teaching staff in English, will lead a trip of twelve students to Mexico City, where they will develop their multicultural communication, translation and multiliteracy skills as they learn to interpret the "linguistic landscapes" of Mexico's diverse capital. Students will undertake individualized field research and develop projects in Mexican Spanish, language ideologies, translation and sociolinguistics. The project carries credit for Hendrix’s Odyssey Program.
International Conference on the Short Story in English: A Literary Journey to Ireland
Dr. Ty Jaeger, Chair of English and Isabelle Peregrin Odyssey Professor of English-Creative Writing, and Dr. Colleen Mayo, assistant professor and Murphy Fellow in English will lead twelve students in spring 2025 to Killarney, County Kerry, Ireland to attend the International Conference on the Short Story in English. Students will attend short story workshops, participate in a panel and attend conference panels, readings and talks. After the conference, the group will visit literary sites in Dublin, including the Book of Kells, the Museum of Literature Ireland, the Oscar Wilde House and the James Joyce Centre. The project carries credit for Hendrix’s Odyssey Program.
Korean Immersion in Seoul, South Korea
Longtime Korean-language learner Eliana Oden, senior physics major and Murphy Scholar in Literature and Language from Searcy, will increase her proficiency studying Korean for two weeks at LTL Language School in Seoul, South Korea, with the goal of communicating more fluently with her Korean-speaking relatives. The project carries credit for Hendrix’s Odyssey Program and is supervised by Dr. Colleen Mayo, assistant professor and Murphy Fellow in English.
Travel Writing in Tuscany, Italy
Dr. Anne Goldberg, professor of anthropology, will travel with eight students to Tuscany, Italy, an established popular site for travel writing. During the over two-week trip, students will engage with examples of travel writing and produce their own travel-based essays. Each student will have the opportunity to focus on a topic of their choice from options such as food, science, music, tourism or history. At the end of the trip students will share their narratives to a website and will hold a reading of their works on campus in fall 2025. The project carries credit for Hendrix’s Odyssey Program.
The Hendrix-Murphy Foundation Programs in Literature and Language were founded in 1978 by a gift from Charles H. Murphy, Jr., former CEO of Murphy Oil Corporation, in memory of his mother, Bertie Wilson Murphy. Their mission is to enhance and enrich the study of literature and language at Hendrix College. For more information, visit hendrixmurphy.org.